Films from “the other America” at the Leipzig Documentary Film Festival before 1990
Shooting Wildcat (1977), courtesy Deborah Shaffer
More than 150 films from the USA were shown over a period of almost thirty years at the International Documentary Film Festival in Leipzig during the GDR era. From 1962 onwards, there was not a single festival year in which the leading country of the “imperialist” bloc was not represented in the program, often with up to ten films in the 1970s and 1980s. The retrospective at the DOK Leipzig Festival 2025 was dedicated to this hitherto neglected chapter in the festival’s history.
The title “Un-American Activities” refers to the “Committee on Un-American Activities,” an investigative committee of the US House of Representatives that was originally established in 1938 to take action against Nazi sympathizers in the US, but after the end of World War II became a notorious instrument of anti-communist witch hunts, which have primarily been associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy. In many of the films that curators Tobias Hering and Tilman Schumacher viewed and, in some cases, rediscovered for the retrospective, the right-wing conservative rollback after the relatively progressive Roosevelt era played an important role. Even in the 1980s, the US films shown in Leipzig reflected a palpable need for a historiography from the left that would overcome the trauma of the McCarthy era and build on earlier traditions, especially those of the American labor and trade union movements. In 1981, the Leipzig Festival itself contributed to this historiography with a major retrospective on political US documentary film of the 1930s and 1940s: “American Social Documentary.”
The narrative of the United States as a country in which “progressive” movements were systematically persecuted under the banner of anti-communism fit in with the image of the USA as an enemy officially cultivated in the GDR. But the fact that political repression and social injustice met with resistance in the US itself and spawned documentaries critical of the system was also compatible with aspects of a more complex image that GDR society had of the US. To put it bluntly, one could argue that it was just as important for the “Überbau” of the socialist society that the Soviet Union remained historically in the right as it was that the dream of a “better America”, which could be imagined as a socialist America, was preserved in the USA.
If the films and filmmakers invited to the Leipzig festival were supposed to represent this “other America,” they did so sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes out of conviction, sometimes with a smile or a shrug. The fact that almost every interview with a guest from the US printed in the Leipzig festival minutes ended with a vow for socialism should not always be taken at face value. At the same time, however, one should not underestimate the fact that politically active and often militant filmmakers in the US accepted hardships and risks for their ideals. They could have had it easier for themselves, but they often chose the rocky paths of heightened resistance. And it was not only in this respect that the “Un-American Activities” of the 1960s to 1980s, which the retrospective brought back to the screen, were highly topical in the fall of 2025.
The retrospective program during DOK Leipzig 2025
Part I: Die Ständige Vertretung – On a Permanent Mission: Emile de Antonio
Luru-Kino in der Spinnerei. Guest: Arno Luik
24th Oct 2025
IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG Emile de Antonio, USA 1968, 102 min
25th Oct 2025
POINT OF ORDER Emile de Antonio, USA 1964, 97 min
IN THE KING OF PRUSSIA Emile de Antonio, USA 1982, 90 min
26th Oct 2025
MILLHOUSE – A WHITE COMEDY Emile de Antonio, USA 1971, 91 min
RUSH TO JUDGMENT Emile de Antonio, USA 1967, 126 min
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Part II: Frontlinien – Front Lines
DOK Leipzig (Cinema CineStar 5)
28th Oct 2025
SUNDAY Dan Drasin, USA 1961, 17 min
COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES Robert Cohen, USA 1962, 45 min
Followed by an online q&a with Robert Cohen
29th Oct 2025
OFF THE PIG! aka BLACK PANTHER (NEWSREEL #19) San Francisco Newsreel, USA 1968, 15 min
A SONG FOR DEAD WARRIORS Norma Allen, Michael Anderson, Larry Janss, Saul Landau, Rebecca Switzer, Bill Yahraus, USA 1974, 25 min
HUELGA Ralph MacGrew, Mark Harris, USA 1967, 54 min
Introduction: Cecilia Valenti
30th Oct 2025
WHERE DID YOU GET THAT WOMAN Loretta Smith, Linda Horwitz, USA 1982, 28 min
UNION MAIDS Jim Klein, Miles Mogulescu, Julia Reichert, USA 1976, 51 min
Followed by an online q&a with Jim Klein
31st Oct 2025 Luru-Kino in der Spinnerei
SONS AND DAUGHTERS Jerry Stoll, Stephen Lighthill, USA 1967, 101 min
Im Anschluss:
Film & Panel: Generation Vietnam – The significance of the Vietnam War for political documentaries from the USA – Guests: Barbara Kopple, Deborah Shaffer, Allan Siegel
31st Oct 2025
DIFFERENT SONS Jack Ofield, USA 1971, 55 min
WITNESS TO WAR: DR. CHARLIE CLEMENTS Deborah Shaffer, David Goodman, USA 1985, 29 min
Followed by a live q&a with Deborah Shaffer
1st Nov 2025
WILDCAT Bonnie Friedman, Bigan Saliani, Deborah Shaffer, Rhody Streeter, USA 1977, 14 min
HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A. Barbara Kopple, USA 1976, 103 min
Followed by a live q&a with Barbara Kopple and Deborah Shaffer
2nd Nov 2025
THE GOOD FIGHT: THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR Noel Bruckner, Mary Dore, Sam Shills, USA 1984, 98 min
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Part III: Collective Action – Filmkollektive
Luru-Kino in der Spinnerei
7the Nov 2025 Newsreel
ARMY (aka U.S. ARMY) (NEWSREEL #36), Newsreel, USA 1969, 19 min
MY COUNTRY OCCUPIED (NEWSREEL #151) Tami Gold, Heather Archibald, USA 1971, 30 min
TEACH OUR CHILDREN Christine Choy, Susan Robeson, USA 1972, 35 min
BREAK & ENTER aka SQUATTERS (NEWSREEL #62) NY Newsreel, USA 1971, 40 min
PEOPLE’S FIREHOUSE NO. 1 Paul Schneider, USA 1979, 25 min
8th Nov 2025 Kartemquin Films
Guests: Peter Kuttner, Gordon Quinn
TRICK BAG Peter Kuttner, Jerry Blumenthal, Susan Delson, USA 1975, 21 min
THE CHICAGO MATERNITY CENTER STORY Jerry Blumenthal, Suzanne Davenport, Sharon Karp, Gordon Quinn, Jenny Rohrer, USA 1976, 60 min
GOLUB Gordon Quinn, Jerry Blumenthal, USA 1988, 55 min